The European Union's Capital Markets Union (CMU) is a broadly-based regulatory reforms framework that emerged from the Global Financial Crisis, the Great Recession and the Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2008-2014. Launched in 2015, the CMU deployment date is set for 2019, although some...

European SMEs rely predominantly on bank credit to fund investment and operating capital, with direct lending markets (bonds) and equity markets both underdeveloped across the EU compared to the US and the UK, as well as other jurisdictions. In addition, there has been a significant decline in...